A DIVIDED CULTURE

Chapter:

CHAPTER 5 Virtuosos

Source:

MUSIC IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

Author(s):

Richard Taruskin

For these reasons, among others, Liszt's concerto, and the compositional approach it embodied, despite their claim of descent
from Beethoven, were widely regarded by cultured musicians at the time as monstrosities. It is precisely at this point, in
fact, that a chronic rift begins to open up between a compositional avant-garde, to which Liszt and many other “creative virtuosos”
belonged, and a conservative establishment. This rift has been a constant factor in the history of European (and Euro-American)
music
ever since, and reached a crisis in the twentieth century. To a considerable extent, its story will be the main story of this
book from now on.